It's not easy to get back into the swing of things, even after a short absence. I felt for Phil, as I would catch him periodically staring into space.
We're not sure what to do about the sheep and the orchard. The first section of apple orchard we grazed has grown back astonishingly quickly. Some of the weeds are about 18" high, and ready to be grazed again. The rest of the apple orchard is bare, or almost bare: no more than a half inch for most.
On the other side of the driveway, the stone fruit orchard has some very tall sections of weeds, some as high as six feet. The sheep won't have an easy time grazing that. So maybe we should cut it.
On the other hand, if we cut it, we are coming into the hottest part of the year. If it's all cut and won't grow back, will we have to buy in feed?
We have so little experience, and have read reports on both sides of the issue, we're conflicted. So, for today, we do nothing.
The last two days I have tried to take the empty comb from the beehives. Yesterday I was astonished to see a marked queen bee in the Queen Esther hive. Probably the Queen of Sheba relocated next door.
Today I saw that many of the capped worker cells in the Queen of Sheba hive were now empty. Some of the comb had been demolished. Already! What could have eaten great chunks of wax in the last few days? I have no idea.
Phil and I moved the chicken pen into the recently-grazed pasture area. We put up netting and clipped the wings of the chickens. They are still flying out. Oh, well. Maybe they won't all fly out.
I don't know what's wrong with my cabbage seedlings. It seems to me that I had many more growing earlier this week than I do now. My hopes of a quarter acre of beautiful cabbage appears to be shrinking. Now I may have a bed or two of cabbage.
I've had very mixed success with gardening in general. Considering that seeds are programmed to grow, I am surprised that so few flowers came up (a few marigolds are all that's in bloom now). No watermelon seeds poke out of the ground; no tromboncino squash along the fenceline.
I am thankful for the things that do well, but do feel mystified by the hit-or-miss nature of growing.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Don't be too discouraged by the missing seedlings... even my garden (in the middle of town) everything from squirrels, bugs, gophers, rabbits, deer, snails, birds etc eat mine too. :)
ReplyDeleteI admire you guys. We had a learning curve when we went into homesteading, but it was not our main prospective income... We made a bucket of mistakes over the years and have learnt more than any book can teach. Keep positive, each year is different. Enjoy your weekend. How's Joe??
ReplyDeleteJoe is good. We've cut him off of kombucha, and that has worked well. :)
ReplyDeleteCabbage is a cold weather crop, so it is probably just too hot. Usually you sow cabbage in April or something. You might try planting it later, maybe September, when it is cooler. I am not sure if it will have enough time to grow before frost. Marigolds are generally planted inside in February, then transplanted outside in May or June. They really take a long time to reach maturity.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if this helps, but I thought I would mention it.